My 3 Year Old Daughter Has Been Walking Fine Up Until A Few Days Ago

Posted on Mon, 25 May 2020

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Mon, 25 May 2020 Answered on

Thu, 9 Oct 2025 Last reviewed on

Question : My 3 year old daughter has been walking fine up until a few days ago. When she walks she walks with her left foot turning outward. Shes a healthy child. The only problems she has had is a developmental delay with her speech but she seems to be getting better with that.

Answered by Dr. Aashish Raghu (-4 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Answer

Detailed Answer:
Hi there

Thanks for the query

Is your daughter able to sit cross legged? Is she limping while walking? Any pain over the hip?

This outward toeing gait could be due to various reasons. It can be something with the hip, the knee, the leg or the foot. It is difficult to assess this situation over the Internet unless she has had a physical trauma which can be a cause of hip trauma leading to this gait.

In some situations this can be attributed to delayed milestones and other times it could be twisting of bones that need to be untwisted or it can be a normal phenomenon which needs no treatment.

She would need a full assessment by a Paediatric Orthopaedic surgeon and a few xrays done to find the cause as well.

I hope I have answered your query.

I will be available to answer your follow up queries.

Regards,

Aashish Raghu

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Nagamani Ng